If you like Doom, late 70s and 80s post apocalyptic movies please give this a try. Personally played on ranger difficulty wich makes you play it more safely and sparingly with ammo than the run and gun of oldschool shooters like doom. Think of it like doom meets metro 2033 where you interact with different people and factions settlements and missions that have some effect on the world around you. It's also 100% free.
Quick note: I played this one steam and have seen a ton of updates after release. But seeing it with such low reviews I felt obligated to add my own. What will undoubtedly scare off players is how aiming is hard. Unless you invest in a certain item that gives you auto-aim just like previous classic resident evil titles, or if you pick the option to start a save with said item at the cost of some other resources. This alone will "fix" most players experience. But there's another focus different from your classic resident evil that will help you a lot. Enemies will rush you and are hard to hit. Strategically manoeuvring around them is key especialy early on moreso than in older resident evil games. However, many don't have the vacuum style "grab" animation to stop you. You get quite a diverse set of weapons over your playthroughs, and mastering the movement is key. However, especially the several available melee weapons is way more important compared to the classic games it's based on. It is way less risky to to pull off melee hits by not being grabbed. Strategically taking out fast troublesome enemies first, then mopping up easy or slow ones with melee will pay off BIG time in the long run and is what the game is designed around. Furthermore, if you think you'll enjoy a more dreamlike and often whimsical or even slightly comedic touches than the more classic action/horror movie fare of resident evil, I'll think you'll appreciate this. It's way more Alice in Wonderland focused over being gore/shock horror. The bonus outfits, released in LATER updates make it a great halloween game. Would I suggest it to someone who has never played a classic survival horror game before? Not ideally. Is it an excellent title for its genre that went out of its way to play, look and feel like games of the golden age of survival horror? Yes! Absolutely! Does it feel like an easy and uninspired knockoff in terms of setting? No! It goes out of its way shape its own identity!
I really enjoyed my time with it. Gameplay consists of walking around in a gameshow avoiding traps and doing some very light puzzling in realtime. But the meat and potatoes are Xcom style grid/turnbased combat. There isn't an overarching strategy layer like Xcom besides taking interviews with a certain tone (silly, rude, nice) so you can get sponsorship rewards from certain companies to give you gear or discounts. In order to more quickly level up and get more abilities for your characters and gain more sponsorships, you play as stylishly as possible to get bonus experience. The world and story exposition isn't all too in depth or amazing, but it doesn't waste your time either. I was afraid the characters would be a little obnoxious, but they were never too annoying. In fact the Main characters Scarlett's voice actress surprised me and I think elevated the material making her rather likeable. I played some other Xcom games and picking Hard immediately was the right call. Took me about 20 hours to beat. Enjoyed my time with it. Now curious to see what Artificer has in store next. If you liked this check out Hard West 1 and 2 if you want more Xcom style battles with some light palatecleanser storytelling in between battles.
I'm not even super into tactical games. I prefer arenashooters and survival horror games and the like. But this game has such incredible levels of suspense and dread when combing through levels after exploring a shot down a ufo, terror attack in a city, aliens invading your base or you invading an alien base. And this is all despite its adorable 90's graphics. A deep and challenging game that requires you to pay attention, weigh up risks and make good decisions. I also enjoy how much granular and versatile its systems are compared to the newer entries made by firaxis. Not a lot of games can compete. But be sure to play it using openxcom for some in my opinion mandatory qol features.
As the title suggests, this is NOT a windwaker clone despite looking like it and sharing a bunch of zelda-esque features. You can feel the small team and low budget, but they stretched it as much as they could into a fully featured singleplayer experience. I don't play much 3d platformers (last one i played was Supermario Sunshine when it came out) but really enjoyed the physics. I see some complaints about the ever so slight "slipperyness" of the walking, but if you've ever played an oldschool doom game I really don't see the issue. I personally enjoy working with a bit of momentum, but I would hardly describe the movement as momentum based. Combat felt like a bit of an afterthought, and very very easy on normal. But it wasn't a distraction either. Sidequests where you look for people in the (quite small) metroidvaniaesque world I enjoyed too. But you don't have a map wich might confuse some less orientation prone players. Managing money feels a bit odd at times. It respawns in crates around the world you can break and you can sell some gems to get it. You can find an unlockable skill that doubles the money you get wich carried me at almost max cash throughout the game until I found another bigger wallet. The look of the game is kind of hit or miss to me. I prefer windwaker wich it is based on but can see some people really getting into it. Music wise, atleast the main "city hub" that was very memorable to me and very atmospheric. Can't really comment on the rest of it as I don't remember it. But that one theme of stoneheart city and the forest temple/undead burg inspired environment was incredibly cozy. Is it a must play? Not really, but if you look for a platformer with some exploration i'd check it out. The dlc I enjoyed too to get the movement really out of my system. I tried demon turf after finishing the main game and eventually dropped that to do all the extra more challenging bonus levels as I enjoyed those much much more in terms of movement.
The developers describe it as psychological horror and stealth game but I wouldn't put it in either category. It's an atmospheric puzzlegame. The game isn't too challenging, this kept me in the flow nicely. The controls are simple with a minimal ui. It doesn't overwhelm you with lots of backtracking. It maintains a nice flow where you incrementally think more outside of the box. You even find an optional secret in each level if you take that train of thought one step further. The game has a great physicality to it. It communicates well what you can and can't do and you truly feel like you're 'there', I enjoy that in games. Moving your character and nteracting with puzzle-elements feel great(helped by the great soundeffects and animations). These might seem like details, but they add up to elevate the overal atmosphere. If there's one word to describe this game it's 'polish'. Through the entire game there were only two or three details what i'd describe as slightly out of place or not on par with the quality of the rest of the game. And that's a testament to level of overall quality of the game. The environments, characterdesign, sound, animations are consistenly great and together make create a very atmospheric game. The only real criticism I have with the game is its last trial and error sprint to the finish. It didn't communicate well what a failstate was and made cheapened the emotional impact more than the ' difficulty added to it. All in all, if you are new to puzzlers. Enjoy Atmospheric/horrorgames and want to try something new and short in between, i'd give it a try. Even if this isn't the genre you gravitate towards normally. Keep in mind the game is short! But it's quality over quantity. Excellent cozy game for October. It's currently on sale for €6,79- I think the game is worth more in my opinion. Fullprice might be steep if you just want hard puzzles.a Im very curious to see what Unfold Games makes next, but I can't find much info about them.
At first I had feared that Dusk would consist purely of memes and post-ironic 'didn't games used to be wacky?' jokes. After just finishing the game i can tell you: It Isn't. Does it play on nostalgia? Yes, Dusk makes its inspirations very clear, (quake, heretic, redneck rampage, halflife, blood and probably more) Does it have stupid jokes and references? Yes. However, the more you progress, the more serious the game starts to take itself. Sure, there will be some bossfights that walked straight out of a 3 year olds drawing, but when the game truly startes taking itself seriously it elevates the material to another level. Dismissive chuckles are followed by levels with amazing atmosphere and suspense. The From powerfantasy playground with rednecks to truly moody and oppressive environments. The music will coincide with reveals of great horror and mystery, 'Story' is expertly told through environment without wasting ANY of your time. These things happen seamlessly intertwined with gameplay so the pacing doesn't miss a beat. Before you know you forget all about the silly premise and looks. Hell, while looks are charmingly awful, that occasionally takes a turn for the better too with later levels featuring bizarre abstract architecture and moody lighting. I'd actually call a bunch 'good looking'. Leveldesign is great. Super fast movment. Weapons sound good. Fun enemies. Loads of secrets Can crank the fov up to extreme levels in menu. (thank you devs,) There were some nitpicks though. Playing with a high fov (I used 130) will make your view clip outside the level in small places. Playing with physics is a bit wonky, and you'll want to stack them often if you're a secrets fiend. With a higher fov grabbing items was harder than it should've been too. UI text blends into background often. Crosshairs have no contrast black lines around them. Luckily they were customizable, but sometimes i'd have to change colour within a level several times as i couldn't see it.
